Sweden rallies to beat GB after hot start for Montañana’s team

After their humbling 70-85 defeat against Spain yesterday afternoon, GB came into today’s fixture against Sweden with a point to prove.

A frustrating recent history with the Swedes added an extra motivation for Head Coach Anna Montañana’s side. Sweden beat GB twice in the EuroBasket Qualifierse by a combined total of 5 points across the two fixtures.

With their final Group D fixture a difficult test against the hosts Germany on Sunday, 22 June, victory here was likely to be essential for GB to progress in the tournament.

GB got off to a fast start thanks to a nice spin and lay by team captain Temi Fágbénlé. Shanice Beckford-Norton maintained the pressure, following up an airballed three with two quick makes from deep.

With their shots falling, GB had time to get back and set their defence, suffocating Sweden’s drives to the basket. Fágbénlé punctuated this with a thunderous blocked shot on Frida Eldebrink’s layup attempt.

Klara Lundquist kept Sweden in step with her relentless attacks on the basket and smooth three-point shooting. As GB’s hot start began to temper, Lundquist began taking advantage in transition, preventing GB from getting behind the ball and into their defensive posture.

With three minutes to go in the first quarter, GB’s physicality began to show as they forced four consecutive offensive boards, finally resulting in an and-one put-back, completed by Cheridene Green, to Coach Montañana’s delight.

Q1: SWE 15 / 22 GBR

Turnovers began to mire GB’s offensive process early in the second quarter, with the referees pinging Sam Ashby for a travel on her sweep to the rim. Sweden continued to punish these mistakes, relying on their transition offence to supplement their half-court attacks, which GB was dealing with well.

Getting GB out of the mud, Holly Winterburn stepped up, cashing in an impossibly deep three-point heave with the shot clock winding down. Then, making use of a nicely timed screen, Winterburn got to her one-legged floater, splashing in the teardrop.

GB were unable to stay out of foul trouble, however, allowing Sweden to keep the tempo as Lundquist got to the line time and time again. She had 11 points in the first half.

Despite some nice attacking play from GB, including some aggressive drives by Fágbénlé, the free throws piled up, meaning the game was tied going into the half.

Q2: SWE 31 / GBR 31

Eldebrink, Sweden’s all-time leading scorer, took control going into the second half, splashing in two threes to take the five-point lead. Winterburn came right back with the blistering dribble-drive into the physical right-handed finish. Ashby then hit the pull-up, quick-trigger three, capping off a high-octane start to the third.

However, this quarter would be Sweden’s to take home. Lundquist continued her measured performance, dropping in the mid-range jumper and getting to the free-throw line at will.

GB battled back through nice drives by Catorina Henderson and Fágbénlé, but their defence was unable to maintain discipline, fouling unnecessarily and giving up wide-open lay-ups due to Sweden’s cutting.

Winterburn racked up the points, including a Tyrese Haliburton-esque three-pointer that bounced 10 feet vertically off the rim before falling in, but was unable to prevent the 10-point Sweden lead at the end of the quarter.

Q3: SWE 57 / GBR 47

With plenty of time left, GB had a chance to narrow the lead and push this game to the wire. But Lundquist continued to demonstrate why she was the best player on the court. She ended up with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, scoring at all three levels whilst facilitating for her teammates with poise.

Winterburn was GB’s sole offensive force in the first half of the fourth quarter, completing a nice drive through the contact, executing high-arcing floaters, and even getting to her post-fade game. The fouls eventually caught up to GB, causing Holly to foul out with 19 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists.

GB had one final run in them with just two minutes to go, soaring to a 7-0 run to cut the lead to seven. Henderson took up the scoring mantle as Winterburn sat, whilst Hannah Jump finally got the ball to fall.

Unfortunately, it was a case of too little, too late, as Sweden was able to close this one out professionally, finishing as deserved victors.

Final Score: SWE 75 / GBR 66

For GB, Holly Winterburn led GB in scoring with 19, whilst Temi had 11, only sitting for 1 minute and 16 seconds.

For Sweden Klara Lundquist led all scorers with 20, whilst veteran Frida Eldebrink put up 13.

The pressure is on for GB to get a positive result against Germany and avoid losing all three fixtures in this challenging group.

Head Coach Anna Montañana:

“I think this is a moment we are fighting to have hope, and to get this game was kind of the opposite of yesterday. We did pretty well in the first quarter, and then we battled in the second one, and then we trailed the whole second half.

“I think we kept fighting, we kept going for offensive rebounds, we tried to be a little bit better on the turnovers from yesterday.”

Reading the box score, Coach Montañana said, “We shot 9 free throws, wow. 29 for them.”

“But I hope we keep learning how to compete at this level, feel the basket, and I think we’ve got to win. The team tried, I know the players tried. We just have to keep moving.”

Holly Winterburn:

“I think we can be disappointed. We’ve played Sweden three times now, and we’ve lost all three times, kind of in the same way, too.

“As players, we need to do a much better job of adjusting and learning how to win games. But I think you can’t fault our effort, whether that's the start of training camp to now, every single day, every single player has put in an immense amount of effort.

“So, we can be disappointed, but at the same time, we’re on the first step of our journey, we will learn from it and grow.”

Watch the full press conference below.